Shrinking Beach at CSA?

My wife and I visited CSA for our honeymoon in 2008. Five years and two kids later we're finally planning a return trip. From some of the photos we've seen on Trip Advisor it looks like the beach isn't as wide as it used to be. Has it changed or are my eyes playing tricks on me?

We go every October and April. It seems to be wider (to us) in April...not hurricane season. We had the pleasure of being there last October for Hurricane Sandy. Lots of wind, and TONS of seaweed on the beach, taking the beach down to a sliver.

The width of the beach expands and contracts with the weather. Storms such as Sandy reduce the beach by almost a third. I have dozens of pictures from various months and years at CSA and the beach is different in each one. No worries, mon.

My wife and I visited CSA for our honeymoon in 2008. Five years and two kids later we're finally planning a return trip. From some of the photos we've seen on Trip Advisor it looks like the beach isn't as wide as it used to be. Has it changed or are my eyes playing tricks on me?

I was there in Sept 2011, 2012, I did not notice a difference...awesome as ever, returning Sept 2013

The beach is subject to the whims of nature; tides, weather and so on. The beach may not be exactly as you remembered, but it will still be a beautiful beach and will provide you with all the sun, sand and ocean you may want. We are headed to CSA in June for our seventh trip and the beach has been different every time we have been there. Sometimes much wider, sometimes with very narrow parts. But we have never been disappointed. That beach has been around for centuries and will hopefully be there for many centuries to come.

We have been to CSA the last 4 years in a row. The beach is different each year. Four years ago it was very wide the whole length of the resort. Then 2 hurricanes cut it up that winter reducing it to less than half. The water was actually hitting the pavement at Seagrapes and palm trees had to be sandbagged to keep them up. Each of the years since it has come back more and more but it will still be less than you remembered. This year the CSA beach was the deepest on both the north and south ends. Now, walking down the Seven Mile Beach to the south you can see a lot of erosion there. At one point you have to leave the beach and walk through a small resort pavilion to continue as the beach is gone and waves are hitting the foundation. Don't get nervous though...there is plenty of room for everyone at CSA and we still think the beach there is the best on the whole stretch.

The beach comes and goes. It's what beaches do. I remember asking one of the beach attendants at Swept Away (before Couples took over) after a series of storms if there was anything they could do for the beach. He said, "Soon Come. The beach goes away, then the beach comes back."
Having said that the Long Bay part of the 7 Mile beach has narrowed noticable in many places since I first walked down it in the later 1980's.